To not understand the cost of living crisis?

[tiggerbouncy]

Fully prepared to be told I’m being tone deaf here.

Before I start I want to caveat this and say I live in the North and I am comparing to other Northerners, as I know the South is a bit of a different ball game.

I earn less than the national average salary. I have recently had my biggest ever pay rise which has put me on 25k for 35 hrs a week. My partner is on similar but has a lower hourly wage (works more hours though). In total our household income is approx 45-50k ish?

We own our home (via mortgage) and we paid for the deposit with no family help.

We go on at least one or two foreign holidays a year and frequently enjoy meals out and day trips to different places.

We have two cats (one of whom has needed very expensive vet treatment) and soil them rotten.

A lot of my peers constantly moan that the cost of living being so high is trapping them either at home with parents, renting, not being able to go on holidays etc etc. Basically, I’ve had a few comments recently about our lifestyle being really hard to achieve and how it’s unfair we enjoy so much.

I just think that we have put our money into things we enjoy (ie holidays) and obviously don’t have children. But I genuinely don’t find like difficult? If our washing machine breaks we buy a new one, if the car needs work we pay etc. We both saved from having full time jobs out of sixth form in order to fund out deposit (again, big bonus of being northern I know!) but our mortgage payments are easily manageable etc.

I’m not suggesting that the world has our circumstances, but a lot of my peers either earn more than me or the same and moan they can’t do anything!

AIBU to think it’s about how you prioritise life and that “cost of living” isn’t an excuse for just being poor with money?

Again, I’m not saying that a single mum in London with 5 kids has the same options or anything like that, I’m meaning in our specific situation. Lots of people moan we earn nothing but to me it feels like quite a lot!

I also see loads of people on here moaning their 100k salary doesn’t go far anymore and they’re missing out on things. If I made 100k I’d be planning to retire in about 5 years!!

Your kids are grown up. Are people really this dopey? If someone has children living at home they will have much lower free cash than someone who is child free or has grown up children. It’s pretty straightforward.

Why would people need a bigger home and consequently mortgage without kids? Unless it's keeping up with the Joneses.

That's part of the reason I'm mortgage free and have been since mid 4ps

Yes I was able to but more cheaply but I worked full time from 16 and bought at 21. Where others are spunking their money on nights out etc. And I didn't keep on biting bigger more expensive properties. If I had id still be lumbered with mortgage

I'm from the north, and we're relocating back there precisely because it is so cheap. My first job was up there, and I rented a 2 bed flat including some bills for £350 in 2010. I could go out for cocktails 2 for £3.50. I was saving £200/month on £1000 take home pay and living happily.

We'll be saving between 5-20% on lots of little everyday luxuries, and things like days out and lessons for our son, and we're buying double the size of house we could afford here.

I live in the North, have a kid and work at Amazon. I’m doing very well and so is everyone around us. Pubs are packed every weekend and so are the shops. Not much crisis around here

Meadowfinch · Today 06:52
pollyglot · Today 06:20
I've been a teacher all my life (47 years), but only 11 in the UK to be eligible for the TP. Retired on the state superannuation and TP, DH on Navy pension of 12 years plus state, a rental property and no mortgage, we can afford to eat meat once a week. Mince, not steak. We live largely off what we can grow in our garden. The reality is that life is becoming unaffordable. I simply don't know how young families today cope. We give support to a couple of families who can't afford winter coats and shoes for their kids, and my heart truly bleeds for the people who are suffering badly from the escalating food prices and unaffordable rents.It's so unfair.

So you have two state pensions, several small private pensions a rental property and no mortgage. That gives you an income of £12k +£12k plus at least £6k. £30k between two.
How can life be so expensive for you? I have less than that, now retired, still have a teen son at home and don't struggle at all. Are you in the UK?

Judgey, no?
i thought I'd made my points fairly clearly.

My points were :

1. Even though we're in a pretty privileged position with several income streams and no mortgage, on our pensions, we struggle to afford anything more than basic groceries.
2. how on earth do young families cope with food costs and with rents.

I did say that we give a lot to charity.And we travel...but I saved hard all my life for that. And inherited. I don't intend to spend the inheritance, as it's a Trust going back to the 1870s and is invested in a manner I don't intend to reveal.

Perhaps I should add that we have nine grandchildren, which is pretty expensive. 9 year old requires iPad for school, for example. it's expensive to visit them too.

And no, I'm not in the UK

My kids’ school (UK state) have had three 1 week residentials costing £4k each! America twice and Canada once.

I joke with my kids that they get their invoice for their entire childhood on their 18th. If only! I’d be a rich woman and most likely could buy a house or two outright!

@tiggerbouncyfor chancellor of the exchequer! She’ll clearly make it work. Cost of living who?

If hes on similar but works longer hours.. if he was doing 40 hours thats £28.5k so their income is then more like £53k so she has more coming in than she thinks

And compared to a single person earning thay they have 2 personal allowances so they are paying less tax between them than a single person

And being childless they dont pay nursery's, wrap around, formula, nappies, clothes every 3 - 6 months, equipment (prams, cots, toddler beds, stair gates, car seats, high chairs...), toys, school trips, activities, have the heating on more for babies, increased food shop...

They seem to share a car.

Also without kids and a house for £100k they are able to pivot their spending easier or build savings.

Good for them having the life they want but just because you dont personally experience something doesnt mean it isnt real. And CoL is real

I have two school age children as well. And we didn’t struggle during the nursery years either. Only a few years ago we had 4 children in our house - 2 teens , 2 toddlers. At the time our income was around 60k combined.

If you bothered to read my post I was agreeing with the op that for some people the col isn’t affecting them (like me) but I also said that that’s not the case for everyone. (Which should be pretty obvious)There are many poor and starving people in our country (as there always has been which is abhorrent) . There’s now a lot of working class people who use to manage and no longer can and are making choices between food and heating which is awful and there’s a lot of middle class people who consider themselves hard done to because they can no longer afford Waitrose and long haul and are essentially living a working class life on a middle class wage.

There’s no need to be rude btw everyone is entitled to an opinion not just you.

I do agree with this. Whilst I 100% know that the cost of living crisis is really and know people who are really struggling I also really find it hard to get it round my head. For context, we are in the Midlands (im aware this is a cheaper area that south) bought our first home at 22 (no help from parents e.g just saving like mad) we are due to finish the mortgage in a total of 15 years. We early approx 70k between us. We have a luxury hoilday once a year or so, somewhere like the Bali e.g and a smaller holiday somewhere in europe once a year such as germany. We also save approx 15ishk a year so really live under our means. We also dont have kids and thats the only reason I can think of thats different between me and alot of my friends! This isnt a brag but just to point out I do think children seem to be the deciding factor on this!

Ok i can compare as i live in Scotland (north enough?) and have no children. I earn £33k and my husband earns £30k. I earned £22k 6 years ago(pre pandemic) since then my fuel bill has more than doubled, food has doubled, my mortgage had gone up £200. Where I used to have about £1000 disposable income after paying everything I now struggle to have £400. Saving, going on holiday etc are all a lot tougher with less money.

Are you Boris Johnson, or Rishi Sunak?

This is exactly the problem with wealthy politicians: they don't understand the struggles faced by everyone else, because they are protected by their own wealth and privilege. "Just hang in there," said Sunak, protected by his billions. They never see the prices of things, such as train fares, electricity bills and so on, as they have people to sort these things out for them. If they need to make a helicopter or private jet ride train journey, they just ask their secretary to book them a first class train ticket; they probably never see the price, and assume that the fares paid by the plebs are less; they're not much less.

I’m still laughing at “soil them rotten” 😂😂😂

And yes YABU!

I agree it’s far more affordable up north in general. My house would be worth around £200k more where my friends live in Hampshire. It comes down to prioritising and sacrificing, and many people nowadays are not that good at either.

Like in Roald Dahl's Matilda, Miss Honey's cruel aunt who brought her up tells her she owes her the cost of her childhood, and makes her give her her entire salary for the next ten years (and would probably have demanded it for longer). I remember an article in the Independent in the mid 90s about the cost of having children.

And also with out-of-touch politicians, Tony Blair took his children on holiday to the Seychelles, while saying "we're all middle class". And he did this in term time, at the same time as his government was "cracking down" on parents who did exactly this. One rule for them...

I’m actually surprised you can do so much on your meagre salaries.

Many factors at work here:
No children so no loss of income and no child associated expenses.
They have two incomes, I have one. Makes a huge difference.
Mortgage payments will be astronomically different-Friend has just moved to near Hexham. Mid terrace house nearby, £100 K. My rented mid terrace would cost £400-500 K to buy.

Wait until you have kids! 😆

my daughter is buying her first home, in Manchester, which according to burnham is the north, it’s a mid terrace property, the price is 600k.

There seems to be many posters on here who would be surprised at the price of your DD’s property- How would ‘the north’ (the rest of the UK outside the SE of England?!) be so spendy? It’s hugely offensive and quite an ignorant understanding of how we all live across the UK these days.The COL impacts all families irrespective of where you live.

You know not everyone wants kids, right?

Probably because you don't have children.

How big is your home? Upsizing is the biggest cost when you have a family followed by childcare. There’s a massive difference if you are DINK.

And if you like having money, I’d suggest not to have them.

I havent read the full thread but would be interested to know what your age group is. If you and your partner are under 40 with no kids and in good health then you are in a good position with low housing costs and stable employment. I will give you credit that you are probably sensible with budgeting and spending too.

But in this day and age it really doesn't take too much to tip into poverty. Either of you could suffer from illness or accident at any point. With one wage down even temporarily you could find yourself in trouble through no fault. Redundancy can affect anyone too, even jobs that were always considered safe. A break up where you find yourself alone. You can't protect yourself completely from these possibilities.

Just be grateful that you have financial stability but please consider how difficult life is for millions of people right now through simple life circumstances out of their control.